Mother thanks first responders as she gives birth on Delta flight

The woman was one hour into her flight from Mexico to North Carolina when her water broke

A pregnant woman, whose water broke one hour into her flight from Mexico to North Carolina, has thanked first responders for helping her safely deliver her baby on board a Delta Air Lines flight.

On 14 November, Liliana Castaneda Avilia was one hour into her flight from Mexico to her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, when her water broke. The baby was not due until 23 December, said the mother.

But as she started having her contractions, a nurse on board came to her rescue.

"He was like ‘Yeah the baby girl is coming, it’s on its way.’ And he was like ‘Don’t try to push, because if you push more the baby will come out.’ So I held those contractions for like three hours and 30 minutes on the way here,” she shared in a video posted on City of Atlanta Fire Service Department.

As the flight approached the Atlanta Airport, firefighter Juanetta Nash prepared herself along with her team to deal with the situation. "The airplane was coming in exceedingly fast, faster than normal, so we knew there was an emergency, we knew people were nervous,” she said.

“We knew what we were doing, we wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible,” Ms Nash was quoted as saying by CBS-affiliate KSLA News.

“And they were like ‘OK, are you ready to push?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to push.’ So, I just push once and the baby girl came out crying,” said the mother of the newborn.

“Once she did deliver, one of the flight attendants got on the microphone and she was able to say, ‘Hey we have a baby girl,’" Ms Nash said. "It was a special occasion."

“Thank you to the people that were in the airplane, like the EMS, the fire department, everybody who helped us,” Ms Castaneda Avilia said.